[Closed] HANS ZIMMER

King Arthur IS on auto-pilot. I prefer Sherlock to Arthur. In fact, I prefer almost every Zimmer score to King Arthur.

I would just love it if Scott's Robin Hood film was scored by someone like Wojciech Kilar or Ennio Morricone. The idea of Zimmer and his ilk getting their mits on it makes me want to puke.

No, maybe because the theme is so simple it actually works like an underscore? And I love that 18-minute tour-de-force. I DO agree with Jordi that it is a Zimmer highlight.

Now, King ARthur. I would have probably loved it if the score didn't have a big orchestra basically playing the same note in unison. Hans, you DID better before.

Yeah, but I would prefer something a LITTLE more serious for ROBIN HOOD. Ridley Scott is not Jerry Bruckheimer. I liked Streitenfeld's more subtle AMERICAN GANGSTER score (especially his theme for Frank), so if it could be anything like that, only a little more adventurous, I'm a happy camper.

<removed post - going to beat my head against a brick wall instead>

It certainly doesn't, I agree - but I was responding to a claim made by two posters above (which in my opinion is laughable) that Zimmer gives every movie its own unique sound in a way that no other film composer has done.

But, still. Look at this:

All Zimmer's scores for Scott are different

You won't tell me that Black Hawk Down sounds like Gladiator or that Matchstick Men sounds like Hannibal or, for that matter, that Black Rain sounds like Thelma and Louise.

King Arthur, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy are all Bruckheimer projects. You're talking about a guy who rejected Silvestri's original score for Pirates 1 for the huge crime called "because it had flutes". Pearl Harbor tried a different sound, which, while a nice album, totally sucks in the film (and that's not Zimmer's fault, he went against his instinct on that one).

Does The House of the Spirits sound like Regarding Henry or Driving Miss Daisy?

Sherlock Holmes totally doesn't sound like Angels and Demons - Da Vinci Code is similar to Angels and Demons for continuity's sake. Frost/Nixon and Spanglish or Holiday.

Last Samurai sounds like The Thin Red Line, I'll give you that. And how many of RC scores aren't even CREDITED to Hans Zimmer? Is it Zimmer's or Jablonsky's fault that Bay wants a specific sound? Batman Begins and Dark Knight was done for a director who has specific tastes (which is why I don't expect much from Inception next year).

The only composer who TOTALLY changed sounds in the middle of the same franchise happened to be Jerry Goldsmith. All three of his Rambo scores sounded completely differently (OK, same can be argued about Williams on Jurassic Park, but that was only two movies). And you would argue that in the end of his career Goldsmith also happened to have very similarly sounding scores.

Zimmer has a limited palette. That's true. I am not saying that he's trying to give every movie a distinct and different sound (he's HIRED because of his specific sound, too!). What I am saying is that the sound of the project is the first thing he invents, then the rest goes based on that. And it's not even a specific orchestration, it's just which instruments he'll use. That's how his scores sound.

Film music magazine's interview with Hans - http://www.filmmusicmag.com/?p=4471

This is one of best Zimmer interviews I have heard.

Congrats to the people of filmmusimagacine.

"cd are too expensive, too many shorts cd's out there" I love you , Hans.

Last I heard, Jordi has to stay at least 500 yards from Zimmer?

Great interview indeed.

Not sure what good that will do. I'm sure most, if not all, Zimmer 'detractors' know very well that he's a very chatty and likable character.

Me too. He comes across as being a very nice bloke - always has.

He says some really interesting stuff that isn't anecdotal in character. Especially listen to the end of the interview.

The nice bloke thing is one of the reasons of his popularity among directors. James L. Brooks calls him "grace under pressure" all the time, saying that in a very stressful environment, Hans always calms it down and makes the sessions bearable for everyone involved.

His interviews with Schweiger tend to be the best. Also Schweiger wrote the best liner notes for a Zimmer album (Black Hawk Down)